All we hear today on the news is the latest information about the coronavirus. The news media has created a panic among the public as seen in the buying up, hording, and profiteering of hand sanitizers, toilet paper and other cleaning supplies. If anyone questions the reality of the universal sinfulness of mankind one only needs to watch people in lines at the grocery stores these days.
Yesterday, many churches closed their doors as a caution, especially to their older members. Many of them live streamed their services on social media. I watched the service of Madison First Baptist Church on my I-Pad as they live streamed it for the first time in their history. They did not close their services, but provided live streaming as an alternative for those people who didn't want to be in a large gathering. Am I afraid of being in such gatherings? No, but I do think it is wise to limit contact with other people during this time.
In recent days I've read many comments from Christian leaders reminding us that God has not given us a spirit of fear. They seem to be saying that we should just continue to do whatever we've been doing and ignore this illness. That does not seem to me to be a very responsible position. As I said, I am not afraid of coronavirus, but at the same time I want to be responsible to myself, my family and those around me. Knowing that, even if I am not showing any symptoms of the disease myself, I could still infect someone which might cause them serious problems or even death, it seems to me the responsible thing to do is to limit my contact with others. For that reason I don't plan to go out much for the next couple of weeks except to, hopefully, pick up a few things we need.
Some were opposed to the idea of churches closing and doing live streaming on social media. I admit that when I first heard some churches were going to do that I wasn't pleased either. Churches have remained open in the midst of far worse problems than a virus. But the more I thought about it the more it made sense. China has proven that if people avoid contact with others for a short period of time this disease can be controlled very quickly. Since more washing of hands and less contact with people helps stop the spread of the disease it makes sense to do both.
Besides that, for many churches this was their first attempt at broadcasting their services. I have to wonder how many people might have watched a church service on Facebook this past weekend who would not have attended a church service otherwise. I also wonder how many of them might have heard the gospel for the first time in their lives. Could God use something like a virus to take His message of redemption to those who have not heard it before? Now that these churches have found how simple it is to live stream a service, might not many of them continue to do so even after this emergency is over? We'll have to wait and see, but I'm hopeful that churches will continue to broadcast their services.
Some churches suggested their congregants meet in small groups and watch the live streaming of the service to promote a safer gathering of a small number of people. This would allow them to participate in the service together and have an opportunity to discuss the message. This is similar to what many home churches are doing.
I realize that many churches like large numbers of people in their services, and some might not like the idea of people staying home watching the service on Facebook. It does add many challenges for church leaders such as how to do Communion, how to have participatory worship, how to share prayer concerns and pray for one another and how to receive offerings. However, each of these challenges can be overcome, and live streaming the service can make it available to shut-ins and people who don't attend church services for one reason or another.
The church leaders I referred to earlier are correct: God has not given us a spirit of fear, but He did give us wisdom and, I hope, a sense of being responsible for the well-being of others. In time, this outbreak will be over and things will return to normal. But, maybe there will be some lessons in this for how we do church that will need to continue.
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